Kaiyodo in difficulty / Revoltech to Good Smile

[Opeth7]

Seems the financial meltdown has had an effect on Kaiyodo.

Organic Hobby have ceased all ties with Kaiyodo, effective from now and word reaches me that Good Smile Company have acquired parts or all of the Revoltech license. Certainly, the Street Fighter line now appears on their website.

This means that the Fraulein line is likely to go because Good Smile have a big stake in Max Factory who produced the directly competing Figma series.

What all this means, I don't know for sure. Revoltech is bound to continue - they do far too well for them to stop. I hope so anyway.

Here's the official release from Organic.

Official Organic Hobby Inc. Announcement:

“We would like to take the time to inform you that Organic Hobby, Inc will no longer be importing Kaiyodo’s product lines Revoltech, Fraulein, etc…, effective immediately. We would like to extend our sincerest apologies for all inconveniences that this might have caused your company/establishment. In addition, we would like to say that we feel terribly sorry about the non-release (cancellation) of the following items.

Please make a note of the changes (above) and make the necessary adjustments in your system.We look forward to continue doing business with your company/establishment as you are a valued customer.”

[silver1spider]

Blackwaterpark:

Can you give further explaination... so Organic is not distributing any more Kaiyodo Revoltech products? And that Kaiyodo is no longer producing Revoltech? (That means no Assembleborg )

I find it really troubling that Kaiyodo is giving up one their most popular line...it is like General Motors selling their Cadillac and Chevy divisions

So Max Factory is the producer and Good Smile Company is the distributor?

There is going to be a lot wholesalers and importers not getting paid...I wonder what happens to people who have place preorder with HLJ and etc.

[gpa]

Kaiyodo= Revoltech

Max Factory = Figma

Organic was distributing the Revoltech lines for Kaiyodo. Most likely Good Smile offered Kaiyodo a much better contract for distribuition and Kaiyodo dropped out of their deal with Organic. The reason this would effect the Fraulein series is because Good Smile has close ties with and distributes figures by Max Factory, who produce the anime-character centered Figma line which is a rival series of the Revoltech brand.

[kamina57]

well if good smile is distributing now then cool. revoltechs r still gonna be made. its not like kaiyodo went out of business, they can still make the toys. i persnoally think this is better if thats the case. but wat i really wanna know is if b/c of this, max factory will make more figma characters that kaiyodo has done like yoko! ;D

[TheMazingerZ]

Does it even matter if you purchase the Revoltechs and/or Figmas straight from japan (like from HLJ.com)? I thought those were the distributors for outside of Japan, not the universal distributors.

}D

[mechaleleng 2.0]

Wouldn't there be some conflicts since both articulated toylines are competing..I really hope these turn of events will be for the best of both series..

[recca74]

I'm not getting the vibe that Kaiyodo as a company is folding up shop. However, Good Smile does, in fact, seem to be distributing the SFO Revoltech figures. They do have Kaiyodo listed as well

www.goodsmile.info/detail/jpn/2060/REVOLTECH+STREET+FIGHTER+ONLINE.html

I'm not sure what the deal is with Fraulein Revos, however, Kaiyodo's site is still active and appears to retain that branch of figures as well as all of Revoltech.

Looks like it's just that Organic is no longer a subsidiary/ distributor of Kaiyodo, but a separate entity. I could be wrong on all this though. I'm definitely looking forward to more concrete info on the changes. :-)

Quick somebody email Danny Choo! ;-)

EDIT: Good Smile co. is distributing some figures for iDOLM@STER, which Kaiyodo has some figures of in their Fraulein products. However, they're quite different in terms of style.

It also seems that, per the site, Good Smile co is also a distributor of products by Freeing, Artstorm, and Gift. As well as Maxfactory of course....and now....Kaiyodo. Good Smile co also has their original products, like the GITS Gokin.

[Opeth7]

Oct 21, 2008 20:54:00 GMT -5 silver1spider said:

Blackwaterpark:

Can you give further explaination... so Organic is not distributing any more Kaiyodo Revoltech products? And that Kaiyodo is no longer producing Revoltech? (That means no Assembleborg )

I find it really troubling that Kaiyodo is giving up one their most popular line...it is like General Motors selling their Cadillac and Chevy divisions

So Max Factory is the producer and Good Smile Company is the distributor?

There is going to be a lot wholesalers and importers not getting paid...I wonder what happens to people who have place preorder with HLJ and etc.

Hi Spider,

As other posters have said, Kaiyodo are bound to continue the Revoltech line - it's very, very popular in Japan. Something happened behind the scenes, with the best case scenario being a better contract offered by Good Smile. In hindsight, my use of the phrase financial meltdown was a bit misguided. It's still unclear whether GS have a stake in Kaiyodo or just an agreement to distribute their products.

As for importing to the UK or the US direct from Japan - that should be unaffected, so if you get your Revoltechs from eBay or HLJ then no problem. If however you get your Revos from a US toystore or comic book shop then that will stop unless Good Smile distributes overseas. I've no idea if they do.

The entire Revoltech line seems to be shifting over. Good Smile have an ad for a super-cute mini-Danboard on their website.

www.goodsmile.info/detail/eng/2144/Revoltech+Danbo+Mini+Amazon+Box+Version.html

Danny Choo might be able to help fill us English speaking enthusiasts in since he's their website brainbox as was rightly pointed out.

Coincidentally, I just received my very first Figma through the post.
Nanoha Takamachi was the figure in question and I was a little disappointed in the paintwork - a bit sloppy in places and the interchangeable hair pieces wouldn't stay in without some blu-tack and there's a bit of a gap. Good articulation though.

The overall package was nice, but I thought it felt a bit cheap in comparison to Fraulein Yoko even though price wise the reverse was true. It would be a shame to see Fraulein end but I think Figma has the bigger established fanbase already.

[silver1spider]

Thanks Blackwaterpark for sorting it out... I guess I hit the panic button with all these crazy economic news. You are right we can order directly through HLJ and other ebay sellers. I would suggest you go to an anime/model shop in Chinatown. They maybe importing directly from Japan as well.

Some of my local comic stores do carry revoltechs and they do go on sale. Some figures are just too esoteric for most western audience. I seen Dix-Neuf, Giant Robo , Black OX ... months on end and finally tagged with the reduced stickers.

What intrigues me about the Revoltech Street Fighter line is that all the figures are listed at Yen1680 vs the normal Revoltech price point of Yen1900. Either they figure they will sell lots of SFO figures or GSC has such great distribution that can bring the price down.

But I doubt we will see any saving if you buy them at the local retail stores? (not that it is a big difference Yen 220)

[gpa]

Silver1Spider,

I think the reason why the Street Fighter Revoltech are cheaper is because the SFO figures are a little smaller than the regular revoltech (though I have yet to see a figure review).
Also, as far as I understood it, Organic DID distribute the Revoltech series in Japan, since in Dengeki Hobby Magazine it lists Organic as the distributor, however I doubt this change over will have a very big impact on release dates as far as the figures go, especially since the October releases are already out.